Day 397: One Last Ride

Almost exactly ten months ago I arrived in Afghanistan. Since then I have spent a lot of my time traveling the countryside and visiting downrange bases. I have seen a lot of things, met a lot of interesting people, and had many unique experiences. Well, today marked the end of my Afghan travels as I concluded my final “big trip” before I head home next month. I may have one or two runs into Herat city before I go home, but outside of that, my traveling days are essentially over. So as I spent two and a half hours on the road today, I tried to enjoy the last leg of the journey. I tried to get a lot of pictures of these Afghan people I have tried my best to serve over this past year. I tried to enjoy the interesting and surprisingly beautiful desert landscape that I have come so used to as it passed me by. I reflected on how blessed I have been to have traveled these roads in safety. The reality that this journey actually is going to end soon started to kick in. I started to feel excitement that I will soon be home with Sue and the kids, my family and friends, and normal life again.

And then all of the peaceful reflection ended as the Humvee started to overheat and I started to get blasted with hot air as the A/C was turned off and the heater turned on. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted and it wouldn’t be memorable if there weren’t a few bumps in the road...right?

Here are a few pictures of the journey.